Celebrating Chinese New Year

We celebrated our first Chinese New Year with Lia Kate a couple of weeks ago! I suppose this isn't the first Chinese New Year to come around since she was born, but I doubt the kiddos were partying much in the orphanage. This Chinese New Year is the Year of the Tiger and it fell on February 14, which worked out quite well because red is the color for both Valentines and Chinese New Year. We celebrated on the 14th with two families in our church who recently adopted little boys from China.


Lia Kate in her Chinese New Year outfit. They were about a dime a dozen in China (well, something like that), so I stocked up.


Yep, Britton has one too. ;o)

Here is Lia Kate in action, squeaky shoes and all:



Here are the three new Chinese kiddos at our church ... Lia Kate, Fisher and Hamilton, in their traditional dress.


Hamilton showing us some Kung Fu moves.




Hamilton and Fisher. These two were fostered in the same city in Inner Mongolia, and may have even known each other in China before being adopted by families here.


Lia Kate with Fisher's sister Channing. They became best buds because Channing kept stuffing Lia Kate's mouth with fried rice. What can I say, the girl likes to eat?


Danny & Britton.


We also went to the big Chinese New Year celebration downtown, where Lia Kate ate lots of dumplings (yum) and where we tried to keep Britton as far away from the food as possible (thanks to the soy allergy).

We had a great time celebrating Chinese New Year with our Chinese friends, and look forward to being able to talk to Lia Kate about her homeland and its many unique traditions in years to come.

I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up

This is Lia Kate coming in from the snow the other day. She was as bundled up as the day we got her and she couldn't quite stand up from the floor. It was pretty cute!

More Sweet Brother-Sister Moments

Love this video, but it is in no way indicative of what our life is like 24-7 around here! It is sweet to see these two learning to be brother and sister ... and with that comes good and bad. Here is some of the good:

A Girl and Her Doll

One of the neat things about having Lia Kate in our lives is seeing her come to life before our eyes, experiencing new things and growing into her little self after living in an orphanage for so long. One of those new experiences for her has been playing with toys. In the orphanage, the only toys they had were balls, so all toys have been a learning experience for her. Since we've been home, she's been given several baby dolls. At first she had no clue what to do with them. So, at first, she rejected the dolls, then she became indifferent, and now, all of the sudden, she loves them. Here are some pics of her carrying around one of her little dolls. It is a sweet thing to see our little girl loving on her little doll...

Snow Day Videos

Here are a couple of videos of our kiddos playing in the snow the other day. Britton was loving it and Lia Kate didn't know quite what to think about it.



Snowball tutorial:

Happy Girl

Our little girl usually has a very happy disposition ... except at the moment (she is throwing a little tantrum) ;o) ...

Lia Kate's First Snow

I love a good snow day! And even as I sit here and type it is coming down like crazy outside. This doesn't happen too often in the South so we are loving it. Lia Kate and I are watching it fall while Britton naps. Lia Kate is from a tropical area in China, so I'm certain this is her first real snow. Yippee for her. We're enjoying our snow day ... already played outside, tossed a few snowballs, and eaten snow ice cream. Just look at these adorable little snow bunnies...

























The back of our house when the snow first started falling.

The Not-So-Sweet Moments

I posted this sweet picture the other day, but have to let you see these too. With two toddlers, I think these moments are a given! Too funny not to share...






You see, it starts out innocently. Like this ...

They smile.


They look at each other sweetly.


Then it dawns on Britton ... "wait a minute, she's in my car."


He jockeys for position.


And gives a big shove.

Yep, that's how it happens. This whole sequence can happen in about 60 seconds.

Or, here's another one:

They're enjoying a good brother-sister spin in Daddy's chair at the office.


All is good. They're playing nicely.


Then, Britton leans in a little too close ... and it's all over.

Fun times around here! Always.

Bath * BOOK * Bed

One of Britton's and Lia Kate's favorite time of day is getting to read books with their daddy after bathtime. Most of the books are about trucks and dogs, but Lia Kate doesn't seem to mind. She really gets into reading. This is a big change from when we first got her as she had no interest in books at all. Now, several times a day she will bring me a book and then climb into my lap for me to read to her. She has changed so much in the short time we've had her, and we love that she is picking up our love for books!

Full Circle

I love it when things come full circle. For example, our church's mission conference is this week, and there is a missionary family with us whom we last saw at the conference back in 2006. They have an adopted daughter from China. In '06, their daughter, Lauren, was only 3 or 4 years old. At that time, Danny and I knew we wanted to adopt internationally and, though I was sold on adopting from China, Danny wasn't quite sure. We fell in love with little Lauren who was a total firecracker ... adorable and brilliant and witty. It was the first time, I think, Danny had really been around a child adopted from China and he was hooked. We started the process to adopt from China a year later.

We haven't seen that family since ... they are missionaries in Africa. But they are back at our missions conference this year. Lauren is now 8 years old, and here we are with our own little child of China! Lia Kate lights up whenever she sees Lauren. I think she loves seeing familiar faces. It is a sweet thing to see these two girls together ...

Full circle. I love it when that happens.